WojBomb: It's likely going to be Green!!!

Strong front runner now

Phoenix Suns assistant Willie Green has emerged as the strong frontrunner and the New Orleans Pelicans? choice to become the franchise?s next head coach, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2021

Story: Suns assistant Willie Green has emerged as the strong frontrunner and the Pelicans’ choice to become the franchise’s next head coach, sources tell @wojespn https://t.co/DdhGM4eE9z

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) July 12, 2021

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12-year NBA veteran, the 39-year-old Green has been an assistant with the Suns for the past two seasons and spent the previous three seasons on the Golden State Warriors coaching staff. Green also has previous experience in New Orleans, as he played one season with the team in 2010-11, when they were still the Hornets.

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Christian was the first to report Willie was the guy �� https://t.co/2SzPdq35tz

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) July 12, 2021

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Originally Posted by 13 - 3

Christian was the first to report Willie was the guy �� https://t.co/2SzPdq35tz

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) July 12, 2021

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Thought it was MM?

More like a Woj firecracker. It'll be a bomb when a hire is announced.

Mac was the first to say Green was going to be a HC very soon. Maybe didn't draw a direct line to the Pels, but he was the first who even brought to my attention that Green was around and an assistant HC>

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

Mac was the first to say Green was going to be a HC very soon. Maybe didn't draw a direct line to the Pels, but he was the first who even brought to my attention that Green was around and an assistant HC>

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To be fair, I was just told he was on the short list at the time. Didnt think he had a chance at the time because I knew how much Griff loved Lee. But apparently, some of our players LOVED Green when they met him and that sealed the deal. Hope Griff can still land Lee, but I dont know why he'd accept an assistant gig

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

To be fair, I was just told he was on the short list at the time. Didnt think he had a chance at the time because I knew how much Griff loved Lee. But apparently, some of our players LOVED Green when they met him and that sealed the deal. Hope Griff can still land Lee, but I dont know why he'd accept an assistant gig

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Agree! Let’s move on from our differences and start this new chapter.

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

To be fair, I was just told he was on the short list at the time. Didnt think he had a chance at the time because I knew how much Griff loved Lee. But apparently, some of our players LOVED Green when they met him and that sealed the deal. Hope Griff can still land Lee, but I dont know why he'd accept an assistant gig

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Most importantly, was Zion one of the players that loved him? I recall BI was in Phoenix with Langdon so he probably met him.

This organization will not make a major decision w/o Zion's input. I will leave it at that. I am sure all of the exact details will come out soon enough

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

This organization will not make a major decision w/o Zion's input. I will leave it at that. I am sure all of the exact details will come out soon enough

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That's probably a good thing as far as a coach.

As far as players, maybe not. May mean we end up overpaying to keep Ball.

If that's how they wanna play it, whatever. Fine. I just hope it works out, whatever the modality.

On a related note.

Seems like a good chunk of the Pelicans team is in Phoenix right now. Bled, Kira, Jaxson and Wenyen were all hanging out. BI likes to spend his offseason's training there. I wonder who else?

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 13, 2021

This sounds all done but for the announcin'.

Phoenix is that other place lots of players train in summer besides L.A. Naji trained with some coach there and said he was going back in his exit interview.

So I doubt they are all there just because Willie Green is. Whoever isn't in Vegas or L.A. is probably in Phoenix (Scotsdale).

As far as the coach, I agree with SVG's comments that they should have went with Vinson in-house. But if it's Willie Green...whatever.

Green or Lee doesn't matter to me. I just hope hiring a young 1st time HC means we will take our time and build for the future and stop chasing immediate results.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

As far as the coach, I agree with SVG's comments that they should have went with Vinson in-house. But if it's Willie Green...whatever.

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You want Vinson doing nothing but shooting drills for as long as he's willing to do it.. eventually he'll either jump ship or demand more responsibility, but until then he needs to focus his limited time on fixing shots for Zion, Hayes, Kira, etc.

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Originally Posted by jaxmc1023

You want Vinson doing nothing but shooting drills for as long as he's willing to do it.. eventually he'll either jump ship or demand more responsibility, but until then he needs to focus his limited time on fixing shots for Zion, Hayes, Kira, etc.

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And Didi

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Originally Posted by Eman5805

If that's how they wanna play it, whatever. Fine. I just hope it works out, whatever the modality.

On a related note.

Seems like a good chunk of the Pelicans team is in Phoenix right now. Bled, Kira, Jaxson and Wenyen were all hanging out. BI likes to spend his offseason's training there. I wonder who else?

— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) July 13, 2021

This sounds all done but for the announcin'.

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Bled :rolleyes:

I like that we are going for a coach that doesn’t have huge red flags on his resume ALA Gentry, but I’m curious to see how quickly Willie can make an impact as he is a baby in the coaching world as is Lee. Hopefully he is a great basketball mind and motivator as we need both.

i am good with it. didn't want a retread. let's see what he can do. Hopefully he can turn them around in 2-3 years.

I am a fan of the hire, and he has my full support. Now it’s a matter of who he puts in the chairs next to him.

I wanted a new voice, not a retread, but a guy who hasn’t been around the block, and I got my wish.

And what is the basis of "not wanting a retread?"

What objective facts do we have that it is a worse path?

Any leaks on his lead assistant?

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Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN

Any leaks on his lead assistant?

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Yup. Shared the candidates on twitter last night

I think the case against a retread as that, unless it's a highly respected coach, retreads tend to lose the support of a locker room faster than a new coach, just as they do with the fan base. If you don't think JJ was in every single player's ear saying "this is gonna suck" when SVG was hired, then you're naive.

Gentry is hired and AD's camp is like, why did we hire a coach with a career losing record.

Maybe not objective facts, but everything we all heard said this was the case.

It's obviously a different story if the retread is Carlisle or someone of that stature, but not a guy like Jacque Vaughn (not saying whether I liked/disliked Vaughn).

Unless he is completely incompetent, Willie Green will get a longer leash in the eyes of both players and fans because he has not had that failure on his resume

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Originally Posted by MichaelMcNamara

And what is the basis of "not wanting a retread?"

What objective facts do we have that it is a worse path?

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Actually last year we went over the numbers when we went with SVG (who I wasn’t a fan of from before the hire), and the numbers bared out that new hires were more successful than retreads. While this year saw 4 retreads make the Final 4, and last year a retread won a title, prior to that season the last time a retread coached in a final and won was Carlisle and the Mavs defeating Erik Spoelstra and the Heat in the 2011 NBA finals.

I am happy for Minty and Budenholzer making the finals, and carrying the banner of retreads, however while new hires are brought in to bring a fresh message, retreads are brought in to bring stability, and retreads fail at that more than new hires at their task. The sad part is NBA teams are like bad surgeons and don’t know when to quit the retread even when the patient is dead.

But it will be great to see what Green can do. I look forward to seeing who he surrounds himself with, and how quickly they can get buy in from Zion and BI. I feel bad for Pels best writers who now have to learn how to suck up to a new coach, but that’s their problem and not mine.